Salvatore Ghosts
by elainefelicity
Summary: A ghost from the past returns and its the last person Stefan and Damon expect to see.
1. Chapter 1

Being carefree was a very novel thing. Elena Gilbert hadn't felt it since the night before her parents had died. Feeling so at home she lay on Stefan's sofa in front of the fire place and just dozed. Stefan came into room and took in the sight. She was the love of his unusally long life, no doubt about it. He bent down and kissed her sleeping form. She stirred awake and reciprocated. When she giggled, he pulled away.

"I love you, Elena."

"I know," She replied. "I love you too."

Suddenly the room became icy. Elena could see her breath. Stefan's body stiffened and he noticed the fire begin to die. Elena could read him like a book. The switch had flicked to the 'worried' position. Carefree? What was carefree?

* * *

Damon's heart hurt. It had hurt for so long he was almost used to it. When something was trying to kill them his mind and body was occupied with keeping Elena safe. However at times like this he had nothing to focus on but his unreciprocated affections for his brother's lady.

The road ahead was empty and he pressed his foot a little harder on the accelerator. The sign for Mystic Falls drifted by and he re-entered the town that was as much a part of him as his own blood family. Wherever he was, he always seemed to wind up back up here. For better or worse.

The person in the middle of the road took him by surprise. Damon tried to stop, unsuccessfully. As the electronic dashboard clock flicked to midnight, his car swerved and hit the tree with enough force to knock him unconscious. The man in the road, still stood.

* * *

"Elena?" Stefan said. "Do you see that?"

His gaze was in front of the fireplace but Elena saw nothing but the fresh air. His eyes were wide with something between bewilderment and fear. As midnight chimed, Stefan crumpled to floor. Adrenaline shot into Elena's bloodstream. She yelled for the only other person she knew she could count on. Damon. It was an irrational call. She knew he wasn't in the house.

"Stefan, wake up!" She pleaded. "Stefan?"

* * *

Anybody else in an accident like Damon's would've ended up in intensive care. Vampirism had its perks, he was no more than dazed. The front of the car was crumpled around his legs. No amount of rapid healing on his part was going to change that. He was stuck. Going nowhere.

"Ah nuts!" he groaned.

The cause of the crash was still in the road. It was a sillouette but one could easily assume it was male. The man was slowly moving towards the wrecked car. Not walking but almost floating. It was such a serene yet painfully terrifying sight. Damon struggled against the bonds of the twisted metal to no avail. The being came closer. And closer. It stopped short of the car as if bracing itself for what was inside. Damon's blood turned to ice and the air around him turned bitingly cold. The warm scent in the air disappeared and the face of his father stared in at him through the car window.


	2. Chapter 2

Using Stefan as support, Damon slipped his knee-cap back to its rightful place. Putting weight on his legs his femur cracked audibly.

"There," he grimaced "good as new."

Elena had seen enough blood and gore in her short life but she never quite got used to it. Damon smirked at her.

"Get a grip, Elena."

She smiled sarcastically back at him.

"How did this happen?" Stefan asked, gesturing to the smashed car.

All traces of humour disappeared from Damon's face. His already icy eyes turned Arctic. And just like that, the facade was back.

"Took the corner too quick," he replied.

Stefan had regained consciousness shortly after Damon had. He wasn't sure why he passed out but figured seeing his long dead, murderous father had something to do with it. Naturally, Elena had been worried. He'd managed to fob her off for now but he knew her too well. She would be probing again soon. Vampires don't just faint and they don't crash their cars because they took a corner too fast.

* * *

"I'll be fine," Stefan reassured Elena. "Go check on Jeremy."

Elena looked past Stefan to Damon and back again. Not convinced that either of the men she cared about could be defined as alright, she had little choice. She had to take their word for it.

Stefan closed the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. Damon poured himself a drink and then a second one for his brother.

"You saw him too, didn't you?" Stefan said, taking the glass.

Damon nodded and recalled his own encounter with the old man.

"What does this mean?" Stefan said. "Do we pursue it, or let this one go?"

The sound of the weapon was the same as it had been all those years ago. Striking Damon in the back he dropped like a stone, paralysed.

"Damon!" Stefan called, he looked around for where the shot had come from but to no avail. Blood started to pool on the floor.

"This shouldn't be happening," muttered a panicy Stefan. "Heal, damn it."

Nothing happened. It seemed that Damon Salvatore was now as vulnerable to a bullet wound as any human was.

Damon watched from across the room as Stefan took his sweat-shirt off and put it under his back. Guiseppe gazed at him, expression unreadable.

"What have you done to me?" Damon demanded, "To us?"

"Its good to see you, Son" Guiseppe said, warmth exploding onto his face. "This was the only way."

Damon was beyond horrified. The worst of it? He knew the same was about to happen to Stefan.

"Don't," he pleaded.

Guiseppe did nothing but stand there but the shot was there all the same. A crimson patch blossomed on Stefan's t-shirt. He managed to stay upright but when the white-hot pain got too much his body crumpled next to Damon's.

Damon winced and Stefan appeared in front of him.

"Hello, Stefan." Guiseppe said, "The time has come."

Stefan was about to clarify the cryptic statement but the world around them began to dissolve. Objects started to fall apart into piles of sand, and then the ceiling, and then the floor.

* * *

Elena's back exploded in a moment of intense pain. She screamed. Jeremy and Bonnie rushed over to her. It certainly wasn't the first time this had happened. They picked her up and lay her on the sofa.

"Elena, its okay," Bonnie soothed.

Minutes later she was almost recovered but the breath in her lungs suddenly decided to vacate.

"Jeremy, get some water." Bonnie said.

"Stefan and Damon. We've got to get to the house. They're dying."


	3. Chapter 3

A heaviness had descended upon the Salvatore House. A heavier atmosphere than normal, even with two vampires residing there. Jeremy went in ahead of the girls. Bonnie followed him in holding Elena's hand. If what she had sensed had really happened, they weren't only in big trouble, but her best friend would be emotionally broken. Something massive had descended on Mystic Falls. Bigger than anything conceivable and Bonnie knew of no way to stop it.

"Hey, guys. In here," Jeremy called.

Jeremy was just standing. He looked resigned. Nothing he could do. He moved to the left and the sight Elena and Bonnie was presented with was tragic in its simplicity.

Damon lay where he had fallen, blood had seeped into the rug from his wound. Stefan's body lay across Damon's. He had been kneeling over his older brother when he too had fallen.

Caroline was sure the sun had just been out. The darkness had come and it wasn't borne of clouds or sunset. The vampire part of her knew something was very wrong. Stepping out of the car she peered into. She didn't see the homeless man walk into her.

"Look where you're going, child," he said.

His eyes were totally black, Caroline looked into them and saw eternity. It blew her young mind. She recoiled when he put his hand on her forehead.

"Get away from me," she said, alarmed.

"You're lucky. You're young. You're not overdue yet."

His smile was humourless. He wasn't evil, Caroline knew that but he was absolutely spine chilling. The homeless man went on his way.

"They haven't been staked, burned or decapitated ergo they can't be dead," said Jeremy, "Right?"

Stefan and Damon now lay side by side on the double bed. Elena sat next to Stefan holding his hand.

"I've seen a lot of dead vampires and they don't look like they should," Bonnie admitted.

"They look human," Elena added quietly and gazing over at Damon.

All the hairs on Elena's neck stood up. Bonnie's too.

"What is it, Jer?" Bonnie enquires.

"There's a woman in here. She's standing by Damon," he replied.

As fast as she appeared she disappeared and Jeremy suspected that she'd been disturbed by the ringing of Elena's phone.

"Hello."

"Something's happened. I don't know what but if I turn up there and find out its your fault, I'm going to tear your limb from limb. Doppelganger or not."

She should have been scared and in normal circumstances she would be. If Stefan really was dead then Katherine could do what the hell she liked. If he was dead then she had no more fight left in her.


	4. Chapter 4

"Guiseppe, what have you done?" Mary asked of her husband.

The silence of the graveyard was deafening and the shadow of the Salvatore mausoleum loomed in front of them.

"I have set things back to the way they should have been a hundred and forty seven years ago," he replied.

It wasn't his stubborness that frustrated her, he genuinly believed he was right. His blinkered outlooked on life (and death) alarmed her.

She sighed. "And in doing so, condemned so many more to the same death sentence. Will you never change your ways? You've made it your habit to do the wrong things for the right reasons."

Guiseppe loved her outspokeness. Her blue eyes drilled into him and could turn cold as the arctic north but he saw pure beauty.

"Wrong reasons or right, whats done is done and our children are where they should be. And more importantly, human."

The two were at total loggerheads on this one.

"Mary," he pleaded, " leave this alone. I have done the right thing by them. Their honour was always foremost in my motivation. They need to be saved from themselves. It has taken me this long to do just that, do not undo my work."

Mary was disgusted.

"Honour?" she spat, "Their honour needed no saving. It was yours that got them killed. Murdered by their own father, no less. It was your actions that led to their demise. The blood from their victims is on your hands, Guiseppe."

With that, she disappeared futher behind the curtain of death.

* * *

In theory Katherine was identical to Elena but she could not fathom how anyone could confuse the two. Katherine sashayed around and was forever the seductress despite the circumstances.

"Such pretty eyes..." she muttered, stroking damon's cheek.

Elena, Jeremy and Bonnie didn't take their eyes off of her as she walked around the bed to Stefan. All three wondered what it was she thought she could offer the situation.

"You realise they're still alive, right?" Katherine said.

Of course, it took a vampire to hear the faintest of blood flow.

* * *

Neither Stefan or Damon knew how much time had passed since the world around them had melted away. Damon felt his lower back. No hole in it. That was good.

"Get up." He held out his hand to Stefan, who was still flat on his back.

Accepting his brother's hand, Stefan got to his feet and they both took a long look around. It was uncomfortably cold and the road seemed to go on forever.

"_This _is death?" said Stefan.

"What were you expecting, clouds and man with a long white beard?" Damon replied.

"Hilarious."

Failing to see what he could do next Damon sat down on the grass verge.

"What are you doing?" Stefan said incredulously "Since when do you give up?"

"Are you forgetting who put us here in the first place, brother?" he answered. "It may have taken a hundred and forty seven years but father finally got us where he wants us."

"Dead." Stefan said. Damon's despair was now rubbing of on him.

"Damon Salvatore, you were never raised to give up!" said a voice from behind them, "Get up onto your feet, child."

Stefan was amazed by his mother's radiant beauty and despite the situation he couldn't hide his smile.

"Hello, Stefan," she said, her voice laced with her love.

Now on his feet, like his mother had told him, Damon took his mother's hand and kissed it. Dispensing with formality she put her arms around him and squeezed him tight. It was the warmest hug Damon Salvatore had had since his father had fatally shot him the first time.

"Now, what's this nonsense about giving up and letting your stubborn father have his way?"

* * *

"What are you talking about?" Jeremy said, now with Elena's hopeful hand in his.

Katherine slowly walked to stand in front of them.

"You three are so wrapped up in your grief you haven't even stopped to think, have you?" She said.

They had no answer, she was right.

"They're close to death, I'll give you that but vampires don't just drop dead."

Before she could say more, a wind the speed of a hurricane swept everything, including Katherine, Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy, aside. Jeremy looked up in time to see a dishevelled looking man come towards him. He'd hit the wall with such a force it'd stunned him. Unlike Katherine he didn't have the speed to escape. Jeremy's neck broke. Vertebrae snapped out of place in the same way they had done when Damon had done it the first time.

"I think I'll take that, thank you," said the man prying the ring off Jeremy's dead finger.


	5. Chapter 5

Jeremy's transition was a lot rougher than his friends'. Stefan and Damon had their father present to ease the passage. Jeremy felt as though he were traveling at a million miles per hour with his insides trailing behind him. He landed on the floor with an bone rattling impact. Dust from the road clouded around him taking what little breath he had left in his lungs.

He became aware of feet in front of him and for a second thought it was the creature that had killed him. A firm pair of hands gripped his arms and he rose from the floor. Words couldn't express his relief when he found out that the hands that had helped him up belonged to none other than Stefan.

"Hey, Jer," Stefan said with faux nochalance.

Surveying the scene around him, the highway to nowhere made Jeremy shiver. The odd person walked up it and eventually vanished. His mind didn't have big enough scope to even consider where they'd gone.

"You see what father has done?!" Damon yelled to nobody in particular. Mary placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Its alright, child," she told him and turned her eye to Jeremy. "Are you okay?"

"I've seen you before," Jeremy muttered, "You were in the house before, by the bed."

Mary nodded and smiled warmly.

"My name is Mary Salvatore," she said. "I'm truly sorry this has happened to you, Jeremy."

Mary explained how her husband had summoned Death's henchman. Since his own violent death he'd had a lot of time to get consumed by shame and guilt. Despite what Stefan and Damon had become he still considered them Katherine's victims. He was a father who wanted his boys by his side, even if it was in death.

"How did dear old dad manage to summon _that?"_ Stefan asked, taking the words out of Damon's mouth.

"With a lot of time. He didn't count on it sweeping through Mystic Falls like this. He thought it would just stop with you and Damon."

Jeremy was looking perplexed. "I don't understand."

Damon sighed impatiently. "This thing my father summoned to kill Stefan and I is now killing everyone in Mystic Falls that has cheated death. I guess he decided you've passed your expiration date, Jeremy."

"Damon don't be so blunt." Mary scolded. She was fast realising that Damon was a vastly different person to the one she knew. He had become jaded by life. It saddened her greatly. A problem for later she decided.

"That explains why Katherine ran for the hills," Jeremy thought aloud, "Its after her next."

"How do we stop it, Mom?" Stefan asked.

Mary's self assurance faltered, her calm slipped as she faced the prospect of answering his question. He wasn't going to like it. None of them were.

* * *

"Elena get up," Bonnie commanded, there were as many tears in her eyes as there were in Elena's.

"Its my fault. First Damon and Stefan now Jeremy. Its all my fault. Its killing people I love."

"Elena," she said, "Stop being so self involved and try to imagine for a second that the world does not revolve around you."

"Self involved?!" Elena was mortified. "I've lost the love of my life, one of my dearest friends and now my brother."

Bonnie wanted to slap her.  
"Wow, it really is all about you isn't it?"

Before she could reply Bonnie had a look on her face that said something was off. It was the same expression Jeremy had when he saw the dead.

"Bonnie, what is it?"

"There's a man standing in the corner. By the fireplace."

Elena's bones chilled. Last time somebody saw a man standing there he passed out and all this mess began.

Without seeing him before, Bonnie instictivly knew this ghost was that of Guiseppe Salvatore. His pained expression broke her heart. He was a worried man. He placed his hand out and reached for Bonnie. Transfixed and much to Elena's horror Bonnie walked towards him. The witch's power flowed into the ghost like electrical current and suddenly he appeared as solid as any man in front Elena's very eyes.

"You must help me," he said to both of them. "I have done a terrible thing."

* * *

"Shall we start with who the hell are you?" said Elena, she still had no firm idea but suspecting that he'd created this chaos was enough information for her to hate him.

"Hello Guiseppe." The sound of Katherine's heeled boots reverberated on the wooden floor. Bonnie never stopped finding vampires disconcerting. Their uncanny abilty to be upon you before you realised it still scared her witless.

"Jeremy's dead, and I'm guessing by the way you high-tailed it out of here you should be too," Elena said.

"Thanks to you're loverboy's daddy right there that's quite an accurate summary, Elena."

"Guiseppe Salvatore?" Elena spat, "The man who murdered his children?"

"I was trying to make things right," he replied, "I realise how I've brought carnage upon this place but right now I need all of your help. We have a fighting chance to bring peace once again."

Katherine twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"How?" she said.

"By making a huge gamble. We need to join forces and..."

"Spit it out," Bonnie snarled.

"We have to raise the angel of death."

**Thanks for the kind reviews so far. I'm enjoying writing this and just hope that you can enjoy reading it. Much love, Elaine. X**


	6. Chapter 6

**Your reviews mean so much to me. They keep me motivated. This has been my favourite chapter to write so far. Enjoy. Much love, Elaine. :-)**

When death came to Mystic Falls it sounded like a passing freight train. In the cemetary Elena, Bonnie, Katherine and Guiseppe stood waiting. The noise, which had started faintly, was beginning to get unbearable. The sky had taken on a blood red, dark look. Huge storm clouds littered the sky. Elena and Katherine glanced at each other. It must have been the first moment when they truly were on the same side. Both human and vampire were united by pure unadulterated fear. The pain got way worse. Elena's nose began to bleed. To her horror Katherine's eyes were bleeding. So were bonnie's.

The rumbling finally ceased and was replaced by the sound of wings. What descended from the sky was in the shape of a man. His face was incredibly beautiful. His presence oozed glowing white and his whole being could only be encapsulated by the word 'angelic'.

"What?" he snapped, as if he were the busiest man in the world. To be fair, he probably was.

* * *

Damon, Stefan and Jeremy, now alone, sat at the roadside. Mary had told them to wait. Wait for what? They had no clue but Damon and Stefan trusted her more than anybody. They had little to do but wait for someone or something to save their lives. It was enormously frustrating. Leaning against a tree, Stefan glanced over at Damon. His brother's face was even paler than normal. His focus was getting distant. Truth be told, Stefan wasn't feeling too clever himself.

"Are you alright, brother?"

"I need blood," he replied.

"Me too."

Jeremy was perplexed.

"How can that be?" he asked. "If you guys are dead then how come you still need to feed?"

Damon and Stefan looked at each other.

"Jeremy, you're a genius," Damon said. "What if we're still alive somewhere? Even a small part?"

Damon was of course correct. His own body and that of Stefan's still lay on the bed with the smallest glimmer of life in them. Their vampire part had its uses after all.

* * *

Everyone was too flabergasted to answer Death's question. He calmly walked up to Elena and when she drew back came even closer.

"Why. Am. I. Here?!" he shouted so loud in her face she almost had a coronary. His face contorted with something between anger and unstoppable power.

"She wants to undo what I have done," Guiseppe chimed in calmly.

"Really?" Death said, "What would that be Mr. Salvatore?"

Guiseppe explained the situation with astounding honesty. Elena actually believed that he was sorry.

"Do you really think that I will let someone out of my clutches because you love them, girl?" He stressed the last word as if she were an insignificance he could do without. He laughed sourly and then his tone changed.

"I feel people's pain. I take the blame. I am the personifcation of grief and despair after all,"

"Love transends death right?" Bonnie said bravely. "It conquers you."

He considered her for a second.

"Bonnie Bennett. You speak the truth, of course. However, I cannot change the rules for one and not everyone," Death said. "You are not special enough. It angers me that you believe you are. Do not summon me again."

He turned around to leave but suddenly turned back as if reconsidering something.

"I will pull my minion away. No thanks necessarry. I am not evil, simply part of life."

* * *

The need for blood seemed accelerated in the land of the non-living. Jeremy felt completely alone while the two vampires sat motionless. There was something quite tragic about two powerful beings like Stefan and Damon being reduced to this. Being forced to succumb to the starvation. If there was any other proof that these two had some part of them still alive, it was that. Otherwise, why would hunger matter if they were already dead?

A lot of people had wandered up this highway to nowhere but the man approaching was different. He made Jeremy's hairs stand on end. He steadily walked, emerging from the distance.

"Jeremy Gilbert. You have people who love you very much," the creepy man said.

"Who are you?" Said Jeremy.

"Something more powerful than your wildest dreams and nightmares." He looked down as Jeremy remained on the floor, all the fight had left him, "I cannot be stopped. I am The Angel of Death."

Jeremy sprung to his feet more from respect than fear.

"You do not fear me," Death observed. "That is a rare quality."

In his heart of hearts Jeremy knew he was heading the wrong way up the highway. He also knew there would be people waiting for him. He knew there would be wonders and beauty beyond his craziest fantasies. No, he was not scared. He was brave beyond words and even Death knew that.

"One thing," Jeremy said. "One condition. You send my friends back. I know part of them is still alive."

Death sighed impatiently.

"Why must everyone try to bargain with me?" he said. "Fine."

"Fine?" Jeremy clarified. "No, thats too easy."

Death shook his head. "There are no catches with me, Mr. Gilbert. I am simple really. Stefan and Damon are vampires. They are already on my register. Thats why they will never truly die. Undead, get it?"

"So you'll send them back?"

"They should never have been placed here in the first place. A stupid human and one of my henchmen made a deal that was never going to end the way it was intended."

Jeremy had seen many vampires 'die'. Where did they go?

"They simply cease to be," Death explained. "Vampires are walkers of the night. They should not be here." He crouched down next to Stefan and stroked his forehead with what could only be described as tenderness. Like he said, he wasn't evil.

"This will be one epic fall. I regret I cannot say where they will land," Death said sincerely.

With that, he plunged his hand deep into the centre of Stefan's chest. What occured next was an explosion of light and Stefan's body vanished. Jeremy was awestruck by the utter beauty of what he'd just witnessed. Death repeated the process with Damon and he too disappeared seemingly into thin air.

"I like you, young Jeremy," Death said. His stunning face carried complete sincerity.

Death liked him. What on Earth did that mean for the young Gilbert? Jeremy found it too hard to contemplate but realised the feeling was mutual. A friend of The Angel of Death. It gave the phrase 'friends in high places' a new meaning.

"Come," The angel invited. "Follow me."

Jeremy accepted and followed Death into the unknown.

* * *

Damon Salvatore was aware of the cold concrete floor. His bones aches. He opened his eyes and saw that it was night-time. Unsure of even his own name he tried to stand. The stuffing had been knocked out of him. His eyes saw a Starbucks coffee shop on one corner and a bank on the other. The stars shone somewhere but the city lights drowned them out. A shuffling noise came from one side of him. Unable to control himself the vampire struck a homeless man a drained his life blood. Letting the body drop to the ground he was horrified. What the hell was he? Who was he? He staggered off in the direction of a sign proclaiming to be 'Underground'.

In a horrifically similar situation to his brother, Stefan stumbled around the streets of the British capital city. Neither had a clue of the other's existence let alone whereabouts and Mystic Falls...? Where was Mystic Falls? What was Mystic Falls?


	7. Chapter 7

Mary strutted toward Giuseppe on the bridge. Her face was burning with anger.

"I have disappointed you again, my love," he said meekly.

"Yes, Giuseppe. That is an understatement!" she snapped. "You will put this right."

Both knew their sons had returned to Earth and were alive and well. They also knew that Damon and Stefan had gone on murderous rampages with no idea who they, or indeed each other, were. Mary blamed her husband whole heartedly.

"How exactly do we do that?" he returned.

"We?" she exclaimed, "This is your mess."

Giuseppe knew she didn't mean that. She loved her children too much. She'd have gone to Hell and back for them.

"Mary," he said softly, and caressed her cheek, "They need both of their parents if they have any hope in this matter. You know that."

She acknowledged that he was right in the way she accepted his caress and melted as he touched her.

"What would I do without you?" he muttered.

"Shoot your own flesh and blood?" she replied cuttingly.

That was a low blow but it was nothing he didn't deserve.

"I will find Stefan and bring him back from the edge in the way only a parent can. You find Damon. A problem shared is a problem halved," she suggested.

Giuseppe squirmed. "I could never get through to Damon. He and I never saw eye to eye. He is _your_ son, Mary. Always was."

Mary was furious and ripped into him for being so spineless.

"All the more reason to get through to him. Get over yourself and be a father!"

With that she vanished in search of Stefan.

* * *

Damon had quickly worked out the ways of modern day London. It was perfect for him. He perched himself on a park bench watching a gang of young men playfully beat sinkholes into one another. Another smoked something that certainly wasn't tobacco. The rest worked their way through various forms of alcoholic beverage. He watched for a long time, hungry. The city was a perfect hunting ground for a predator like him. So many people vanished beneath its concrete and steel curtain they wouldn't be missed if they disappeared permanently.

His eye had been on a homeless woman having a conversation with the fresh air. About to make his move, he stood up. Three of the boys started heading in his direction. Damon smirked. He loved being underestimated. It made the final score all the more sweeter. Old homeless lady or young man in his twenties? The choice was made for him when he could hear the blood running through them. He could see their carotid arteries pulsating. It was as if they wanted to be hunted like the prey that they were.

"Got a couple of quid to spare?" One said threatingly.

Damon shuffled around looking nervous to the oblivious outsider. Not appreciating being ignored one of the men grabbed Damon by the t-shirt.

"Its your funeral," he muttered, before sinking his incredibly large canines into the young man's neck.

The others tried to pull, attempting to separate their compatriate from the vampire in a chorus of obscenites. The air was blue. Damon was too strong. The blood was too good. Hypnotic. The man in his grasp was going limp having been drained of a dangerous amount of blood by this point. One of his friends had fled. Not the bravest but probably the most sensible idea.

It turned out to be the prey's lucky day, however. On the brink of death. Damon was pulled away. A tall man with a thin face projected him backwards. Flying through the air Damon landed awkwardly fatally fracturing his neck. The boy collapsed into a pile on the floor.

"Go. Go now," Giuseppe commanded the boys. Needing no second telling they followed the instructions and ran, carrying their friend with them. Giuseppe sauntered over to where Damon had landed. Crouching down beside him, he waited until his neck healed and he opened his eyes.

* * *

Stefan waited at the bar while the barmaid poured Bourbon. She had green eyes and they were attempting to seduce him as she poured. With charm and sophistication he thanked her and secured her lustful admiration. He smiled at her warmly but like his brother could almost feel her blood pumping. Later, he thought. He had no doubt she would follow. No compulsion necessary.

Stefan had lost the unsettled feeling that he didn't know his name. All he cared about was his new hedonistic lifestyle. It was only when he touched the glass that the flashback came crashing into his mind.

"What did you see?" asked a woman pulling up a stool beside him.

The barmaid was instantly aware of the stunning woman sitting beside her mark. Stefan was lost in _her_ eyes. Those eyes were in the flashback he'd just had only they belonged to someone else.

"Who are you?" This new player startled him.

Mary smiled warmly. "I'm here to help you, child."

Stefan put his mask of smugness back on. "Do I look like a need help?"

"Oh my sweet boy, more than you realise. Now what did you see?"

He'd seen a man with a shock of dark hair. His eyes were a heartstopping blue. He poured Bourbon into a tumbler in what was clearly a beautiful house. That face made his blood run a little warmer. His heart reached out to the connection that could never be totally severed.

"That's the Stefan Salvatore I raised," she grinned proudly.

"Salvatore. Damon Salvatore," Stefan remembered. "He's my brother."

Putting her arm around him Mary led Stefan outside.

Everything was flooding back in a torrent, overwhelming him. His icy ripper heart thawed. His eyes widened and a simply beatuiful face entered his head.

"Elena," he exclaimed.

Mary nodded and encouraged him to tell her what he remembered.

"I love her. I love her so much it hurts," he answered "She's the love of my life. Damon's too."

Mary looked serious for a moment then her face softened again. "No, not Damon's. There is someone out there for him. Not Elena Gilbert."

Stefan took momentary offence.

"Something wrong with Elena?"

She put her hand on his shoulder, "No, my child. Not for you. You two were made for each other. Damon has focussed his life on Elena and Katherine, the love of _his _life is still out there waiting."


	8. Chapter 8

On a Northern Line train it wasn't such a surprise to find a man talking to himself. Damon wasn't talking to _himself _though. Giuseppe sat opposite him.

"Stop haunting me," Damon muttered.

A couple of people gave him a strange look but it was the least of Damon's problems. Beside him was a disguarded newspaper, the headline:

**"VAMPIRE STYLE MURDERS HIT THE CAPITAL"**

_**Police blame the popular 'Twilight' culture for a series of murders in and around Camden area**._

It was the first time Damon considered that he may not be alone. Either there was a wierdo trying to be a vampire or there was another real vampire in the city. To Camden it was then. Until then his journey on the underground had been a directionless one. Thank you, newspaper.

"Damon, talk to me son," said Giuseppe still sitting opposite.

Damon threw him a wicked look but his attention was then caught by a woman. She stood clinging to a pole, swaying with the train's motion. Her hair was dyed vivid blue. She looked quite incredible. The strangest thing was that she was looking straight at Giuseppe. Could the woman with blue hair see a ghost or was Damon really losing his mind?

* * *

Alone again, Stefan mingled through the people. In Camden it was a heady overload to the senses. This was where he'd landed and this was where he'd stayed. He was the 'vampire murderer' in the newspapers and utterly ashamed of it. His mother had steered him back to the right path with her love and enormous capacity for forgivness.

Damon would love it here, he thought. In the heart of the market people congregated in an outdoor street-food area.

"Where are you, Damon?" he muttered to himself.

A woman gave him a strange look but continued her journey through the heady, ecclectic market. He couldn't go home without Damon but he so desperately wanted to go back to Elena. If the last few days had taught him anything it was that he was a contented man. He was happy with his life, where he was living and the people he was living it with.

* * *

The blue haired woman got off at Camden tube station and followed Damon towards the exit.

"I don't think you're a nutter, just so you know," she whispered in very close proximity on escalator. She was on the step below him and he could feel the breath on the back of his neck. This girl was very forward. He liked it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he deadpanned.

"Yeah you do," she said lightly. "The bloke who's following you around like a shadow. I think you should talk to him or he ain't gonna let you alone. Thats just what I think, hun." She shrugged her slender shoulders.

In the ticket hall Damon almost lost her. She temporarily vanished under the blanket of the crowd. On the brink of leaving his life before she'd even entered it Damon grabbed her hand and they both felt the positive charge like an electrical current.

They got free of the crowd and stood on the street corner facing one another.  
"Who are you?" he asked.

"Lisa Jane Marsh," she replied. "Your turn."

Damon was reluctant.

"Come on, mister. You can't come this far and then clam up on me. I need to know the name behind the blue eyes and the accent."

"I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore." Curiosity was killing him so he took a leap of faith, "Why do I get the impression that you know what I am?"

Lisa grinned. "Vampires are everywhere Damon. London's not the city of the fairy stories. It's dark, dirty and crime riddled. Its full of things that walk the night-time but its beautiful, Damon."

Damon didn't need telling that. It took arriving here to make him realise how much small towns bored him. He liked the change of pace, the vibe. And he liked this woman a whole lot more. What was more this was just a woman. She wasn't a vampire, a witch or a doppelganger. The beautiful simplicity of it made his heart scream and his head spin.


	9. Chapter 9

Lisa rested her head on Damon's chest. Her bed was the most comfortable place he'd been since this whole thing had begun. He could've stayed there forever. Only as long as she was with him though.

"So tell me about Stefan," she said, "What's he like?"

"Not like me," he replied.

She propped herself up onto an elbow and looked down at him.

"Don't close yourself off to me, babe. I know what you are, you told me that. I just want to know more about the man I now share my bed with."

Damon sighed, "He's the angelic and sweet to my dark and dangerous." He kissed her, hoping that by doing so she would forget her intentions for an interrogation. A passing train made the room rattle and was the nail in the coffin of their romantic afternoon. Damon sprung up with cat-like agility and eye-balled Giuseppe who had just re-entered his field of vision.

"Why is the spirit of your long, long dead father hounding you?" Lisa demanded, "Damon, talk to me, he's clearly getting to you." She reached out to touch him and he flinched so violently that he knocked a picture frame off of the wall.

"I'm not leaving you until we discuss matters, son." Giuseppe chimed in.

The questions from Lisa were too much on their own. She was asking more of him than he could give. She was falling in love with him, and he her. It scared him more than anything. Giuseppe however was the straw that broke the donkey's back.

"Damon, please. Don't go," Lisa pleaded as he went to open the front door. He stumbled backwards and into his father's steely gaze.

"Stop haunting me! Leave me alone!" He yelled so loudly that Lisa worried her neighbours would come out. She gasped when Damon lost his footing and heavily fell down the stairs. She gasped even louder when the man who caught him at the bottom broke his neck in one swift, well practiced, move.

* * *

The man picked Damon up and carried him up the stairs back towards Lisa.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly.

This young man was heartbreakingly handsome but in a different way to Damon. He carried Damon over his shoulder with un-natural ease. Damon was not going to be light but the man bore the burden like he weighed no more than a pillow.

"Who are you?" Lisa said warily stepping back as far as she could go.

With his free hand the man held a hand up, "Its fine. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here looking for my brother."

The penny dropped, "You're Stefan. Damon spoke about you."

"I'm flattered," Stefan said, "Can I come in?"

Lisa appologised and nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. She was standing on the landing with her dead vampire boyfriend slung over his vampire brother's shoulder. She opened the door but Stefan stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it?" Lisa asked.

"Do you have a car?"

"Yeah. Why?" she answered, perplexed by the sudden u-turn.

"I think I have an idea."

* * *

Old abandoned warehouses were luckily abundant in London's outskirts. Despite her instincts to trust Stefan, Lisa was concerned.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" she asked.

Stefan forced the long closed door open. The place was full of spiders and all manner of dust and bugs. Their voices echoed off of the graffiti covered walls. Lisa noticed a needle on the floor and pondered its use. She could only think of one off the top of her head. City life...

"I'm sure. Damon needs to figure his feelings out. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Lisa said.

"I'm sure Damon mocked my vanilla existence. I'm sure he laughed at how un-vampire I am drinking animal blood but the truth is I do it because I am weaker than him."

"Please. Go on," Lisa encouraged.

Stefan managed to find a post that appeared to be supporting the dodgy ceiling. Sitting his brother on the floor he handcuffed him to it. Lisa tried not to think too deeply about what was happening. She would have either laughed or cried.

"I cannot go near the line otherwise I will cross it. Damon, he walks all over it. He is a control freak but it serves him well. He has a human side that can be tapped into, Lisa. I think you are good for him." Stefan had his mother's words were resonating in his mind. Could Lisa be the one she was talking about?

"So what now?" Lisa said.

"We go and get a drink."

* * *

Damon awakened.

"Stefan!" He yelled irritably,

"Hello, son." Giuseppe said crouching down in front of Damon.

"Oh no. Why can't you go and find a nice big house to haunt or something?"

Giuseppe forced a smile, showing that Damon wasn't going to make him back down, "You have no chance to run away from me now. Now, we talk."

**Hope you enjoyed this penultimate chapter. Sorry it was short. Busy, busy. Thanks for the reviews. I've loved writing this. Final chapter won't be so long coming :-) X E**


	10. Final Chapter

"I give up. You want to lecture me then go ahead," Damon said looking Giuseppe straight in the eye. Giuseppe's aim wasn't to defeat Damon, he wanted to set things straight. He sighed heavily.

"Oh because its so hard for you isn't it," Damon sniped "At least you died and stayed dead. You didn't have to face the prospect of eternal life and drinking the blood of other people."

"I never wanted this for you," Giuseppe snapped. "Thats why I shot you."

Damon's face contorted in disbelief and pure shock at his father's front. Who was he kidding?

"Lies," snapped Damon coldly.

Giuseppe placed his hand over his heart and said, "Why else would I end the life of my children, Damon? I was protecting you from this fate."

Damon actually laughed it wasn't a nice sound. It was full of hate and cold as ice. As a human being Damon pleased himself. He was self-centred and Giuseppe imagined him amounting to nothing.

"You killed Stefan and I because you were ashamed of us. Please don't insult my intelligence by telling me otherwise."

"I was ashamed of you Damon. I despaired of you, my boy. You had no motivation but to please yourself and then Katherine found you."

"And then I wasn't even pleasing myself anymore, I threw my all into her," Damon finished his father's summary of him.

"See, you do understand me, and I you."

Damon shot forward having broken free. Instinctivly Giuseppe drew back even though as a ghost he couldn't be hurt.

"Then why did shoot me in the chest!?"

"I tell the truth, Damon. I did it to free you both from Katherine."

"Was it easy?" Damon's voice had dropped to menacingly low level. "Did you feel good inside when you watched us drop to the floor, knowing we were dead?"

"Look at the power you have, Damon. You are my first born and have murdered countless times but you posess such power and have such a strong bond with your brother... How can I not be proud of the part of you?"

Damon was perplexed. For the first time he'd been silenced. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Giuseppe's words were no lies. He was ashamed that both his son's had become glorified monsters but they fought tooth and nail for what mattered to them. Despite the irony of being dead Damon had more life within him now than he ever did when he was alive. Damon got it. He heard Giuseppe and truly understood him.

"Goodbye, father," he said as Giuseppe began to fade.

Giuseppe put his ghostly hand on his son's shoulder and said the words that Damon had been longing to hear his entire life, "I'm sorry, my son. I am truly, truly sorry I bestowed this upon you."

Damon couldn't quite bring himself to forgive, he didn't have it in him. It wasn't part of him and Giuseppe knew that. Damon now understood him though. He finally got what made his father tick and that was as good as forgiveness. Mission acomplished, Giuseppe Salvatore.

* * *

Stefan and Lisa picked their way across the waste ground leading to the building they'd left Damon in.

"Are you sure it would have worked?" She asked.

"No. Not really," he replied.

Lisa laughed, "I guess we're about to find out." Stefan could see how she'd encaptured his brother. She had a lightness about her. However heavy the situation she seemed collected and appeared to take it all in her stride. It was an admirable quality.

Damon was walking toward them and though Lisa smiled at him he did not smile back.

"Hey, babe," she said.

Damon said nothing in reply but did plant his fist in Stefan's face.

"That was for breaking my neck." He threw another punch, "That one's for tying me up and forcing me to talk to dad!"

Stefan took both blows with remarkable ease. His nose bled but all he said was, "I deserved both of them. I had no choice though, brother."

"You'd lost it, babe," Lisa told him. "I think I might have lost you for good if Stefan hadn't arrived when he did."

She grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. When Stefan saw the gaze Damon gave her in return he suddenly felt like a spare part and shuffled around awkwardly.

"I love you, Damon Salvatore,"

"I know," he replied.

She raised her eyebrows half expecting half hoping he'd say more. He did.

"Its crazy, Lisa. I've known you for a week and feel like you've been around my whole life,"

Damon looked back at Stefan. The city buzzed behind him. People came and went within its streets and transport terminals, a constant chorus of emergency sirens were its soundtrack. Damon could feel it vibrate in a way Mystic Falls never could.

"I'm not coming back, brother," he said.

Lisa squeezed his hand and he knew he'd made the right decision.

"I can't say this is a surprise," Stefan smiled.

Stefan clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder and Damon reciprocated making it into an embrace.

"Tell Elena, I'll miss her. And tell her I'm sorry about Jeremy."

"Jeremy has a great future at death's right hand." Stefan said, "But I'll tell her anyway. She's not going to be thrilled but she'll be pleased you're finally happy."

Stefan said goodbye to Lisa with a kiss on the cheek and turned to leave. He was a few steps away when he faced them again.

"Don't leave it fifty years this time brother,"

Damon nodded and pulled his lover closer to him. For the first time since he could remember he was truly contented. Genuinly happy. It was a good feeling.

The End.

**Hope you've enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed cobbling it together. Thanks for the amazing reviews, people. XX Much love. Elaine. XX**


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